This summer, for his first solo show in his native China, dissident artist Ai Weiwei offers the unusual spectacle of a Ming Dynasty ancestral temple split in two. The wood structure, originally located in Jiangxi Province, honors a sixth-century prince. After being disassembled into 1,500 pieces, the temple was rebuilt in Beijing in adjacent venues: Galleria Continua and Tang Contemporary Art. Ai has placed small objects around the galleries as well, including hundreds of broken teapot spouts, a ladder, traditional lanterns, and replicas of a Ming Dynasty cup bought at auction last year by collector Liu Yiqian, a former taxi driver, for $36.3 million.
Oak Taylor-Smith
